1. Field of the Invention
Bumper systems for motorcycles providing protection in collisions with other vehicles.
2. Prior Art
The following United States patents comprise the closest prior art known to applicant:
______________________________________ Hall Registration No. 1,941,799 Hamilton Registration No. 1,941,800 Harley Registration No. 1,941,801 Howell Registration No. 1,941,802 Turner Registration No. 3,486,765 Persons Registration No. 3,486,766 Lujan Registration No. 3,486,767 Masser Registration No. 3,486,768 Sklodowsky Registration No. 4,111,448 Vertucci Registration No. 4,136,890 Bothwell Registration No. 4,411,333 Winiecki Registration No. 4,416,465 Bothwell Registration No. 4,650,204 Ahlberg Registration No. 4,673,190 Hara Registration No. 4,685,530 Kopich Registration No. 4,685,531 Gunness Registration No. 4,685,532 Piesik Registration No. 4,685,533 Kadono et al. Registration No. 4,691,800 ______________________________________
A primary form of protective structure for motorcycles as disclosed in the prior art patents is the tubular steel crashbar that is bolted to the frame of the motorcycle and covers various portions of the motorcycle and the rider's legs.
However, numerous studies by the Japanese Automobile Research Institute (JARI) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and others, have found that these types of crash or protective bars do not have sufficient strength to prevent the intrusion of an automobile bumper during a crash, and are ineffective in reducing leg injuries. These studies have also found that this type of design often increases the risk of serious injury to the rider above and beyond what he would face if his motorcycle had no crash bars at all. Vertical tubing creates the risk of hooking of tubing by a car bumper, causing the motorcycle (and its occupants) to be violently rotated and accelerated. Horizontal tubing that crosses over the leg of the rider and vertical tubing (which can be sideswiped by an automobile bumper and bent by the force of impact so that it wraps
around or over the rider's leg) create the risks of both direct, traumatic injury to the leg from being struck or crushed by the crashbar, and the pinning of the rider's leg (and, consequently, the rider himself) to the motorcycle, thereby increasing the danger of injury to the rider as the motorcycle falls, approaches a fixed object, goes over a cliff or embankment, or catches fire. The risk of head and other very serious injuries to the rider is increased when a tubular, rigid crashbar is used (the stronger the crashbar, the greater this risk becomes) since the force-absorbing characteristics of the rider's leg are replaced by the non-absorbent crashbar. Moreover, traditional attempts to achieve sufficient strength with the tubular design inevitably require large quantities of tubing that is wide, thick and heavy, which in turn reduces the maneuverability of the motorcycle, (perhaps the greatest inherent safety feature of the motorcycle), and by making the motorcycle look ugly and cumbersome, reduces consumer acceptance and willingness to pay extra for a safer design. Tubular crash bars of any shape, that can be bent or broken during impact, reduce safety by increasing the difficulty of dismounting the motorcycle and creating the risk of punctures, lacerations and similar injuries.
The motorcycle bumper system herein disclosed and claimed eliminates these problems. There are no tubes subject to being bent and no bolt subject to slippage or failure. The non-collapsible, force resistant component of the motorcycle bumper system is composed of either (a) the bumper inner core 30a (52,66)/support bar 30c (62,92) combination or support bar 119. Since the upper and lower bars of both configurations are horizontally disposed to the ground at approximately the upper and lower levels of a standard automobile bumper, the motorcycle bumper system can only fail if (a) the attachment brackets 42 (72,106) fail or (b) the support bars 30c (62,92) compress, since the brackets have been designed to eliminate horizontal slippage and withstand a protectable impact force.